Dear depression, How have I misjudged you over the years. Life can be so crazy sometimes that I missed your desperate attempts to warn me that there were parts within myself that needed tending to. The pain, suffering, loneliness, bleakness of life all are ways in which you communicate, but I did not understand and chose not to listen.
You were my constant companion, the shadow to what I believed was my true self, guiding and helping me grow as a human being in the only way you knew how. It wasn't until I started to truly listen to your messages, to really feel, and accept you as part of me that our relationship began to change. Because of you, I started to pay attention to the wounds deep in my heart, the wounds I carried around since childhood that were affecting my every day decisions. If it wasn't for you I don't think I could truly appreciate happiness, joy or love.
Thank you for being the messenger of darkness so that I could shine the light on the parts of my heart that needed it the most. Thank you for being a guide to all of us in this incredible human life, may many others take the time to understand and get to know you as much as I have. -Stephen Shugert